USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 15
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
measures, make its birth a matter of public im- portance. The expulsion of the French Neutrals from Nova Scotia also took place this year, two hundred families being assigned to Massachusetts. No episode of New England history is better known. Upon plea of military necessity the Aca- dians were seized by the British troops, forcibly conveyed on board transports, and, without regard to the separation of families, parcelled out among the different colonies.1 Just at the beginning of winter about a thousand of these exiles arrived at Boston, when the Assembly apportioned them among the several towns of the province, to be cared for as indigent poor. Being Roman Catho- lics, they were debarred from exercising their re- ligion in any public way, because the old raw-head
and bloody-bones colony law, making it a capital offence for Romanists to enter the jurisdiction, remained uurepealed on the statute-book. Truly, " the justice of tyranny is hard to understand."
Shirley, who was one of the ablest as well as one of the most ambitious governors Massachu- setts ever had, was succeeded by Thomas Pownall. Thomas Hutchinson was named lieutenant-gov- ernor, and Andrew Oliver secretary. Pownall's brief administration was satisfactory to the people of the province. He was succeeded in 1760 by Francis Bernard. In October, George II. died suddenly at his palace of Kensington, and his grandson was proclaimed King of England, as George III.
XIV.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
THE government in England, and in the prov- ince, as now constituted, was destined to inaugu- rate an era of history unsurpassed in its influence upon mankind by any similar period. A series of aggressions upon the political rights of the people of America, begun in the administration of the king's favorite, the Earl of Bute, continued through that of George Grenville, was temporarily checked in that of the Marquis of Rockingham, to be renewed and to culminate in that of Lord North. Writs of Assistance were the entering wedge which first divided the people into parties for or against the government. The names Whig and Tory began now to be heard; and the opponents of Butc, in England, were hailed as in some sort champions of the same cause which had raised up an opposi- tion in America. New taxes levied on the trade of the colonies marked the line of separation still more strongly. " No taxation without representa- tion " became the party slogan of the opposition, which James Otis contributed his great talents to
consolidate into a political force by printing a powerful argument, showing the contrary to be an innovation upon the inherent as well as chartered rights of British subjects. In 1765 the Stamp Act passed. In June, Massachusetts invited lier sister colonies to send delegates to a congress to meet at New York in October, thus originating the Continental Congress. The Stamp Act riots in Boston effectually defeated further attempts to give effect to the obnoxious law in the province of Massachusetts Bay ; but for a time courts of law were suspended and no clearances granted to ships, because officers of the courts and of the customs dared not use the stamped papers for fear of the popular rage, or issue a decree or a clearance with- out them for fear of the king's displeasure. The repeal of the act, in 1766, put an end to this state of things, though it by no means allayed the agita- tion it had caused.
The repeal, however, caused great joy. Its an- nouncement was celebrated in Charlestown, Cam- bridge, and other towns of Middlesex, as well as in the provincial capital. Middlesex, indeed, had carly signified her detestation of the Stamp Act. Even before the Massachusetts house of represent- atives had entered its solemn protest against this
1 There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of embarking. Busily plied the freighted boats ; and in the confusion
Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, too late, saw their children
Left on the land, extending their arms with wildest entreaties. LONGFELLOW's Erangeline.
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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
attack on the liberties of the subject, Cambridge into Boston harbor and land two regiments of red- voted in town-meeting that the act was an infrac- tion upon the "natural, inherent, constitutional rights of Englishmen."
Our brief summary of events next pauses at the memorable year 1768, when the antagonism be- tween Bernard and the house reached a crisis. The enforcement of the obnoxious revenue laws produced brawls and affrays in the streets, and still further strengthened an already formidable opposition. Now comes a new element of strife. The governor prorogues the General Assembly, and refuses to call another ; the people retaliate by calling a convention, which is in effect an assump- tion of sovereignty. The ominous cry of " Trea- son!" begins to be heard abroad, and the still more ominons cry of " Arm !" goes from town to town. At this juncture a fleet of war-ships sail
coats on Long Wharf. One of them takes posses- sion of Faneuil Hall, which the convention of the people had just vacated.
In 1769 the General Court was removed from Boston to Cambridge, because the representatives refused to transact business while cannon were pointed at the hall in which they were assembled. During the summer Bernard was recalled, and sailed for England. Hutchinson, the lieutenant- governor, became acting governor until his own appointment to the vacancy took place. The situa- tion was now daily aggravated by brawls and affrays between the populace and the soldiery. These cul- minated in the tragedy of the 5th of March, 1770, usually known as the " Boston Massacre," which led to the removal of the troops from the town of Boston to Castle William.
Destruction uf the Tea.
Although government had now taken off all the obnoxious duties except that upon tea, the people, in their turn, began to question the king's right to tax them at all, or to quarter troops among them. In 1772 the celebrated Committee of Correspond- ence was formed, on the motion of Samuel Adams, with the object of communicating and securing an interchange of views among all the towns of the province upon the grave questions now agitating the public mind. This committee may be consid- ered to have given form to the Revolution. In December, 1773, the people of Boston tossed into their harbor several cargoes of tea, sent over by the East India Company, -an act which had the
1
warm sympathy of their brethren of Middlesex. This bold proceeding exasperated the king and aroused the ministry to action. The timid, vacil- lating, crafty Hutchinson was superseded by Gen- eral Gage, who, at the head of an army, was com- manded to enforce obedience to the newly enacted measures of parliament, one of which shut up Bos- ton as a port of commerce ; while another abro- gated so much of the province charter as provided for the election of councillors by the representa- tives, - giving that power to the crown; and a third provided that persons charged with capital offences might, in the discretion of the governor, or, if he believed the prisoner could not be fairly
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IIISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
tried in the province, be sent to England for trial. When the General Court met, as usual, in May, General Gage adjourned it to Salem, but when it reassembled there, hearing that business likely to be unpalatable at Kensington was in progress, le hastily sent to dissolve it. His secretary found the door of the assembly chamber locked, was denied admittance, and so read the proclamation upon the stairs. In the mean time the house ap- pointed Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine, James Bowdoin, and John Adams delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia. Having fairly out-generalled the governor, the court ad- journed.
The Boston Committee of Correspondence, with which the committees of Dorchester, Roxbury, Newton, Cambridge, and Charlestown usually joined on occasions of importance, now drew up and trans- mitted to the local committees of the province, and to the other colonies, a pledge on the part of those who signed, not to buy or use any goods of British manufacture until the so-called Boston Port Bill should be repealed. This agreement was called a " Solemn League and Covenant." It was circulated and numerously signed, both within and without the province. General Gage by procla- mation denounced it as an unlawful, hostile, and traitorous combination.
But what gave the aspect of affairs a far graver complexion than agreements or proclamations, was the widespread conviction that the differences with the mother country must be settled by an appeal to arms. And this conviction was finding daily expression in preparations to meet the dread issue, -- in the purchase of muskets, equipments, ammu- nition ; in martial exercise upon the village green ; in the determination everywhere seen to repel force with foree. Old firelocks were taken down and put in order; old accoutrements furbished up; bullets run, not infrequently from the leaden memorial eseutcheons of some Tory's tombstone. There were more sword-blades and pike-points than ploughshares and pruning-hooks beaten out on village anvils. In the pulpit, in the wayside tav- ern, in the harvest-field, all the talk was resistance to the uttermost, to the bitter end. The word " king " began to have a significant counterpoise in the word " congress," which betokened that there was another power - the might of a people united against tyranny - come to know itself.
Governor Gage doubtless early realized that the task of coercing Massachusetts into submission was
a difficult if not an impossible one ; but, however distasteful the knowledge might be, he could not feign ignorance of what was going on around him. Regiment after regiment had been ordered to Bos- ton by the ministry, until that town presented the appearance of a camp. The old fortifications at the Neck were repaired, and a guard stationed there. Tents whitened the green slopes of the Common, cannon gaped from every eminence, and sentinels tramped up and down the silent streets. The music of Sabbath bells came across the water mingled with the rattle of drums and peal of trum- pets, while the aet of prayer was suspended until the crash of military musie at the church door died away in the distance. Boston was indeed effeetu- ally shut up.
There was now an almost total suspension of civil government in the province. Courts of jus- tice could not be carried on because the people refused to act as jurors under the new laws. In some places attempts to hold courts were openly obstructed. Every impediment that could be thrown in the way of procuring supplies for the king's troops was employed by the patriots, who thus embittered and exasperated the soldiery until mutual hatred and defiance filled the breasts of both.
The civil and military organization of the county at this time was as follows : -
Justices of the Inferior Court.
Samuel Danforth. John Tyng.
Joseplı Lee. James Russell.
Clerk. Thaddeus Mason. High Sheriff. David Phips. Deputy Sheriff's.
William Howe, Cambridge. William Pierce, Chelmsford.
Peter Ball, Waltham. Sampson Tuttle, Littletou.
James Kettle, Malden. Joseph Shiple, Groton.
John Farrar, Framingham. Elisha Bacon, Natick.
William Greene, Reading. Munnings Sawin, Marlborough.
Joseph Butler, Concord. Joseph Recd, Westford.
Coroners.
Abraham Watson, Jr., Cambridge. Josiah Smith, Weston. D. Haven.
Judge of Probate. Samuel Danforth.
Register of Probate. William Kneeland.
Register of Deeds. John Foxcroft.
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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Field-officers of the several Regiments of Militia.
First Regiment. William Brattle, Colonel.
Thomas Oliver, Lieutenant-Colonel. Abraham Fuller, First Major.
Thomas Brattle, Second Major.
Third Regiment.
Elisha Jones, Colonel. Charles Preseott, Lieutenant-Colonel. Joseph Curtis, Major.
Third Regiment, South Part.
John Noyes, Colonel. John Jones, Lieutenant-Colonel. John Farrar, Major.
Sixth Regiment. James Preseott, Colonel. Jonathan Wood, Lieutenant-Colonel. Oliver Preseott, Major.
Suffolk had acted promptly. Boston was her own as well as the province capital. On the 16th of August a meeting of delegates from every town and district in the county, except Weymouth, Co- hasset, Needham, and Chelsea, was held at Colonel Doty's in Stoughton, " to consult upon what meas- ures were proper to be taken by the people of the county at this most important and alarming crisis." After adopting a spirited resolution, in which they announced a firm determination to abide by the combination against the oppressive acts of Britain, but without further action, they called a county convention to meet at Woodward's inn, in Dedham, on the 6th of September.
Middlesex assembled her delegate convention at Concord on the 30th of August. One hundred and fifty delegates responded to the call. Hon. James Prescott of Groton was chosen chairman, and Ebenezer Bridge of Billerica secretary. A committee, consisting of Jonathan Williams Austin of Chelmsford, Captain Thomas Gardner of Cam- bridge, Doctor Isaac Foster of Charlestown, Cap- tain Josiah Stone of Framingham, Richard Devens of Charlestown, Doctor Oliver Prescott of Groton, Henry Gardner of Stow, William Brown of Fram- ingham, and Ebenezer Bridge, Jr., of Billerica, was then appointed to consider the late act of parliament entitled an act "for the better regu- lating the government of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," and to report thereon to the con- vention. This committee drew up and presented the following preamble and resolutions, which boldly take the most advanced ground occupied by the patriot party : -
" It is evident to every attentive mind, that this provinee is in a very dangerous and alarming situation. We are obliged to say, however painful it may be to us, that the question now is, whether, by a submission to some late aets of the parliament of Great Britain, we are contented to be the most abject slaves, and entail that slavery on posterity after us, or by a mauly, joint, and virtuous opposition, as- sert and support our freedom. There is a mode of eon- duet, which in our very eritieal cireumstanees we would wish to adopt; a conduct, on the one hand, never tamely submissive to tyranny and oppression, on the other, never degenerating iuto rage, passion, and confusion. This is a spirit which we revere, as we find it exhibited in former ages, and will command applause to the latest posterity.
" The late aets of parliament pervade the whole system of jurisprudence, by which means, we think, the fountains of justice are fatally corrupted. Our defence must, there- fore, be immediate in proportion to the suddenness of the attack, and vigorous in proportion to the danger.
"We must now exert ourselves, or all those efforts which, for ten years past, have brightened the anuals of this country will be totally frustrated. Life and death, or, what is more, freedom and slavery, are in a peculiar sense now before us, and the choice and success, under God, depend greatly upon ourselves. We are therefore bound, as struggling not only for ourselves, but future generations, to express our sentiments in the following re- solves ; sentiments which, we think, are founded in truth and justice, and therefore sentiments we are determined to abide by.
" Resolved, That as true and loyal subjects of our gra- eious sovereign, George the Third, King of Great Britain, we by no means intend to withdraw our allegianee from him; but, while permitted the free exereise of our natural aud eharter rights, are resolved to expend life and treasure in his serviee.
" Resolved, That when our ancestors emigrated from Great Britain, charters and solemn stipulations expressed the conditions, and what partieular rights they yielded ; what each party had to do and perform; and which each of the contraeting parties were equally bound by.
" Resolved, That we know of no instance, in which this provinee has transgressed the rules on their part, or any ways forfeited their natural and eharter rights to any power on earth.
" Resolved, That the parliament of Great Britain have exercised a power eontrary to the above-mentioned char- ter, hy passing acts, which hold up their absolute suprem- aey over the colonists ; by another aet bloeking up the port of Boston; and by two late aets, the one entitled an aet for better regulating the government of the province of Massachusetts Bay, the other entitled an aet for the more impartial administration of justice in said provinee ; and by enforeiug all these iniquitous aets with a large armed foree, to dragoon and enslave us.
" Resolved, That the late aet of parliament, entitled an aet for the better regulating the government of the prov- ince of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, expressly acknowledges the authority of the charter, granted by their majesties King William and Queen Mary, to said province ; and that the only reasons suggested in the preamble to said act, which is intended to deprive us of the privileges eon-
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
firmed to us by said charter, arc, the inexpediency of con- tinuing those privileges, and the charge of their having been forfeited, to which charge the province has had no opportunity of answering.
" Resolved, That a debtor may as justly refuse to pay his debis, because it is inexpedient for him, as the parlia- ment of Great Britain deprive us of our charter privileges, because it is inexpedient to a corrupt administration for us to enjoy them.
" Resolved, That in all free states there must be an eqni- librium in the legislative body, without which constitutional check they cannot be said to be a free people.
" Resolved, That the late act, which ordains a council to be appointed by his majesty, his heirs and successors, from time to time, by warrant under his or their signet or sign manual, and which ordains that said councillors shall hold their offices respectively for and during the pleasure of his majesty, his heirs and successors, effectually alters the constitutional equilibrium, renders the councillors absolute tools and creatures, and entirely destroys the importance of the representative body.
" Resolved, That no state can long exist free and happy, where the course of justice is obstructed, and that, when trials by juries, which are the grand bulwarks of life and property, are destroyed or weakened, a people falls imme- diately under arbitrary power.
" Resolved, That the late act, which gives the governor of this province a power of appointing judges of the supe- rior and inferior courts, commissioners of oyer and termi- ner, the attorney general, provosts, marshals, and justices of the peace, and to remove all of them, the judges of the superior court excepted, without consent of council, entirely subverts a free administration of justice ; as the fatal expe- rience of mankind, in all ages, has testified, that there is no greater species of corruption, than when judicial and executive officers depend, for their existence and support, on a power independent of the people.
" Resolved, That by ordaining jurors to be summoned by the sheriff only, which sheriff is to be appointed by the governor, without consent of council, that security which results from a trial by our peers is rendered altogether pre- carious, and there is not only an evident infraction upon our charter, but a subversion of our common rights as Englishmen.
" Resolved, That every people have an absolute right of meeting together to consult upon common grievances, and to petition, remonstrate, and use every legal method for their removal.
" Resolved, That the act which prohihits these constitu- tional meetings, cuts away the scaffolding of English free- dom, and reduces us to a most abject state of vassalage and slavery.
" Resolved, That it is our opinion these late acts, if quietly submitted to, will annihilate the last vestiges of liberty in this province, and therefore we must be justified by God and the world in never submitting to them.
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this body that the present act, respecting the government of the province of Massachusetts Bay, is an artful, deep-laid plan of oppres- sion and despotism, that requires great skill and wisdom to counteract. This wisdom we have endeavored to col- lect from the united sentiments of the country. And
although we are grieved that we are obliged to mention anything that may be attended with such very important consequences as may now ensne, yet a sense of our duty as men, as freemen, as christian freemen, united in the firm- est bonds, obliges us to Resolve, that every civil officer now in commission in this province, and acting in conformity to the late act of parliament, is not an officer agreeably to our charter, therefore unconstitutional, and ought to be opposed in the manner hereafter recommended.
" Resolved, That we will obcy all those civil officers now in commission, whose commissions were issued before the first day of July, 1774, and support them in the execution of their offices according to the manner usual before the late attempt to alter the constitution of this province ; nay, even although the governor should attempt to revoke their commissions. Bnt, that, if any of said officers shall accept a commission under the present plan of arbitrary govern- ment, or in any way or manner whatever assist the gov- ernor or adminstration in the assault now making on our rights and liberties, we will consider them as having for- feited their commissions, and yield them no obedience.
" Resolved, That whereas the Hon. Samuel Danforth and Joseph Lee, Esq's., two of the judges of the inferior court of common pleas for the county, have accepted com- missions under the new act, by being sworn members of his majesty's council, appointed by said act, we therefore look upon them as utterly incapable of holding any office whatever. And whereas, venires on the late act of parlia- ment have issued from the court of sessions, signed by the clerk, we think they come under a preceding resolve, of acting in conformity to the new act of parliament. We therefore Resolve, that a submission to courts thus acting, and under these disqualifications, is a submission to the act itself, and of consequence, as we are resolved never to submit one iota to the act, we will not submit to courts thus constituted, and thus acting in conformity to said act.
" Resolved, That as, in consequence of the former resolve,' all business at the inferior court of common pleas and court of general sessions of the peace, next to be holden at Concord, must cease; to prevent the many inconveniences, that may arise therefrom, we Resolve, that all actions, writs, suits, etc., brought to said court, ought to remain in the same condition as at present, unless settled by con- sent of parties, till we know the result of a provincial and continental congress. And we Resolve, that no plaintiff in any canse, action, or writ, aforesaid, ought to enter said action in said court, thus declared to be unconstitutional. And we Resolve, if the court shall sit, in defiance to the' voice of the county, and default actions and issue execu- tions accordingly, no officer ought to serve such process.' And we are also determined to support all constables, jurors, and other officers, who from these constitutional principles shall refuse obedience to courts which we have resolved are founded on the destruction of our charter.
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this body of dele- gates that a Provincial Congress is absolutely necessary in our present unhappy situation.
" These are sentiments which we are obliged to express, as these acts arc intended immediately to take place. We must, now, either oppose them, or tamely give up all we have been struggling for. It is this that has forced us so soon on these very important resolves. However, we do it
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with humble deference to the provincial and continental congress, by whose resolutions we are determined to abide ; to whom and the world we cheerfully appcal for the up- rightness of our conduct.
" On the whole, these are 'great and profound ques- tions.' We are grieved to find ourselves reduced to the necessity of entering into the discussion of them. But we deprecate a state of slavery. Our fathers left a fair inheritance to us, purchased by a waste of blood and treasure. This we are resolved to transmit equally fair to our children after us. No danger shall affright, no difficulties intimidate us ; and if, in support of our rights, we are called to encounter even death, we are yet un- daunted, sensible that he can never die too soon, who lays down his life in support of the laws and liberties of his country."
These resolves were adopted by a vote of one hundred and forty-six yeas to four nays. The con- vention recommended the assembling of a provin- cial congress at Concord, on the second Tuesday in October, and directed copies of its resolutions to be sent to the Continental Congress and to the several towns. Worcester held her convention on the same day as Middlesex. Essex assembled hers at Ipswich on the 6th and 7th of September; Hampshire at Northampton on the 22d and 23d; Plymouth at Plympton on the 26th, and by ad- journment to Plymouth on the 27th ; Bristol at Taunton on the 28th and 29th ; Cumberland on the 21st. Berkshire had, as early as the 6th of July, acted in harmony with the spirit of these resolves.
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